


spent, without realising how precious they were

by foxmulder_whereartthou



Category: Persona 3, Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, M/M, The Velvet Room (Persona Series), hjvnxhf enjoy??? lov u all <33, its kind of both?? strap in, not really major spoilers for 4 and 5? just stuff from both of them, philemon (and me) are back on our bullshit, tagging this is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-19
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25982656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxmulder_whereartthou/pseuds/foxmulder_whereartthou
Summary: Elizabeth, on her quest to try and bring Minato back, finds a way to pull his soul out of the seal, although adhering to a time limit.About the same amount of people are happy about this than angry about this.Complete for now, but could become a series!
Relationships: Arisato Minato/Mochizuki Ryoji, Mochizuki Ryoji/Persona 3 Protagonist
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	spent, without realising how precious they were

Igor didn’t approve of what Elizabeth was doing. 

“It is not our duty to meddle in the fates of the Wild Cards,” he’d said, holding his head in hands with his nose nearly brushing the table, “I understand you’ve developed an…  _ attachment  _ to him, but this is-”

“It’s out of the question, Elizabeth,” Margaret had added, closing the door behind her, “And even then, could you find a way to bring him back?”

For some reason, that made Elizabeth see red - drowning out the soft blues of the back room, an ‘employees only’, if you will, for the residents of the Velvet Room. 

“As if you would know,” she’d spat back, “You were prepared to throw your attendee in the midst of a serial killer’s plot-”

Stubborn, she stood her ground. “That is because it was his fate. My feelings do not come into that decision, but of course, you-”

“Please stop fighting,” Theo’d interjected, cowering somewhat behind Elizabeth. “I’m on Elizabeth’s side here, but there’s no reason to-”

“There’s every reason to talk about this,” Margaret leaned back against the wall, crossing her arms, “Elizabeth clearly needs to be taught the meaning of fate, and not interfering with our attendees after their term here is done.”

Neither Elizabeth nor Theo had a response to that - though Theo’s silence was more out of fear. 

“Lavenza will be arriving soon,” Igor reminded them, “Please do not keep this up in front of her.”

Tragically, the conversation had ended there, and Elizabeth had left, dragging Theo away with her. Igor must’ve known - he had to, even if he hadn’t noticed himself, Philemon or  _ somebody _ would have told him - but he’d never attempted to confront her. 

_ Kind of him,  _ she’d thought back then, and still thinks now,  _ To allow me to leave like that. Philemon must’ve been angry; letting an attendant go, just like that? Or is this a part of some new, big plan? _

Elizabeth hoped not. She really, really hoped not.

* * *

For the first time in what felt like years, all of them were in Tatsumi Port Island again. A family reunion, they’d affectionately called these meetups, but it never did feel complete. 

They’d pour one out for him, visit his grave and the memorial and the shrine, but it wasn’t the same. It wasn’t like this was a hard concept to grasp - a name etched in stone and a still-full glass and some flowers left by Aigis were no match for a real, living person, sitting and smiling at the end of the table like everyone else. 

Year after year after year - the same thing happened, with Shijiro, too, and nothing could let them forget the boy whose belongings still sat in that room at the end of the hall. 

Taking him out of his head, Akihiko opened the doors to Gekkoukan for Mitsuru, and she suddenly said, “You know, my security team suspect someone’s been following me.”

“That’s… concerning. Who?”

“Well, they don’t know yet, but from what they’ve seen of him he’s apparently wearing this big bright blue coat.” Mitsuru bit her lip, pulling her own jacket tighter around her.

“That’s strange; you’d think a stalker would wear something more inconspicuous.”

* * *

If anything, the time Minato spent as the Great Seal wasn’t just painful, but also incredibly boring. Through space and time, all he had to accompany him was a throbbing that varied from dull to intense as the barbed wire that strung him up like a puppet dug through his body and into his soul, and Ryoji, every so often, though their talks seemed to be getting shorter and shorter, and further and further apart. 

He didn’t like to think about the inevitable moment he’ll be completely alone, with only the looming presence of Nyx to sit with him. 

Nyx wasn’t very good company, as most parents of lovers aren’t. 

At the particular moment that Minato was ripped through space time and his still somewhat new ethereal form, he’d been pondering a conversation he’d had with Ryoji a while before. 

_ “There’s something coming,”  _ Ryoji’d whispered, in a way that echoed through Minato’s mind, thrumming beneath his skin and still shining like a light in the dark, like he had in his room (or was it the station? Minato’s memories were so out of reach these days),  _ “I can feel it.” _

_ “You can?”  _ he’d asked, his words echoing back, whale song distinguishable only to them, relishing in the feeling of Ryoji’s soul against his, a feeling he’d been scared that he wouldn’t be able to feel again for longer than he’d like,  _ “I didn’t know you could do that.” _

_ “Neither did I,”  _ Ryoji answered, and Minato felt him curl up at his side and stare into the vast reaches of the Seal,  _ “I love you, you know. I miss you so often.” _

_ “As do I,” _ and they feel like forbidden lovers, which they’d always been, in a way. Within this liminal space of soul and seal, Minato tilts his kind-of head to land upon Ryoji’s kind-of head.

_ “I love you too, so much.” _

All alone, Minato could almost hear Ryoji’s words and he recalled them, the ghost of his ever-present scarf lingering at his neck.

And then something - some _ body _ \- took his soul by it’s core and wrenched it out of him. 

It took a moment for his physical form to materialise, and even then, if you looked close enough, the green spring grass showed through his hands and his uniform was a bit too floaty, flowing in a non-existent wind. 

Wait. Grass? Wind?

Brushing his hair aside with one hand, the other still supporting him (this form was incredibly weak without a vessel, after all, and even with one it’s not like he would’ve fared much better), he looked up to see Elizabeth and Theodore, looking worriedly over him. Once she’d met his eyes, Elizabeth stepped back with her hands over her mouth, but he could tell by the corners of her eyes that she was smiling.

“It worked,” she laughed, deliriously, almost breathless, “It worked!”

Theo grasped his hand to pull him up, and with that sudden contact, Minato could feel everything. The sun on his skin, the lush, sweet-smelling flowerbeds behind him, the cars rushing down the streets in the distance, and the general whirr of being alive.

“What’s… What’s happening?” 

Elizabeth removed her hands from her mouth, taking him by the shoulders, “We got you back! We reached through the Seal and we brought you back.” 

Overcome with happiness, she cut herself off, pulling him into a hug that Theodore soon joined. 

“We don’t have long, only a few hours or so, but a little bird told me-” and she glanced at Theo, who looked a little guilty, “That your old teammates are in town today.”

* * *

Walking through Tatsumi Port Island with Elizabeth and Theo, Minato felt guilty - as many things he’d tried to immortalise in his memories and missed with a fierce desperation, there were five times as many things he’d forgotten about entirely. Riding the monorail with them garnered many strange looks, but all Minato could think about was whatever he’d say to his friends. 

How long had it been? Hell, what  _ year _ was it? 

When they arrived at Gekkoukan, it looked nearly the same - which confused him. There was something different, but not… really? He couldn’t describe it, and swallowed his fear as he pushed open the door, hoping that his uniform could pass him off as a normal student on a normal school day. 

Clearly, it was just his luck that the first people he saw, standing in the hall, were obviously Mitsuru and Akihiko. Taller, older, rougher around the edges and clearly sick of whoever they were waiting for, but still themselves. 

A casual (if awkward) greeting fell out of his mouth before he could stop it.

“Hey guys, how’s it going?”

Mitsuru glanced his way for only a second, and also replied on autopilot.

“Oh, hello Arisato-” she whipped her head back around so fast Minato felt his own neck ache.

“What.” Akihiko said, eloquently. 

“Hello,” Theodore started, walking up to them seeming vaguely like those people who try to sell you things on the street, “We, um, managed to get his soul out of the seal,” but Akihiko and Mitsuru were already swarming him in a hug.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, and he was so small, he’d been small when they were in high school but now it seemed as if she hadn’t grown at all and he’d only shrunk. 

Burying his face in her shoulder, he laughed a little, kind of like Elizabeth had when she’d got him through. “I don’t know. I don’t know.”

Horrifically reminiscent of the last time he was here, the first thing Minato heard was Junpei, entering the school with Yukari and Fuuka. 

“Hey! Is Aigis with you?” he’d asked, seeing their pile on the floor, before they broke apart and revealed Minato, who couldn’t remember when he’d started crying, surprised that he could at all.

It had taken nearly half an hour to console them all, Elizabeth explaining excitedly that  _ they’d done it, even if only for a few hours, they’d done it.  _

And then Aigis had arrived from down the hall with Ken and Koromaru in tow, and all of their efforts.

Contrary to what they’d expected, however, she’d frozen in shock. 

“How…” it felt as though her voicebox was seizing up, “You…”

Theo was quick to explain. “It’s only his soul, he won’t be here for long, but-”

“He died in my arms,” she choked, bluntly, making Minato wince. He’d blissfully forgotten that he was dead, somehow. “We  _ buried  _ him.”

“Aigis,” he mumbled, and she visibly flinched at the sound of his voice. “Aigis, it’s nice to see you again.”

* * *

After walking through the same old Gekkoukan halls, and the streets of Iwatodai, and the shrine, and the parks, Aigis and the others were talking with him like they used to, nervously trailed by Theodore and Elizabeth. It was strange, and it was new, and Minato was so, so happy to learn about Ken’s studies, and Junpei’s little league coaching, and Yukari’s acting, and the Shadow Operatives. 

Everything was going so well, and Minato couldn’t help but grasp feebly at his chest, pained and tender from the fact that after today, Minato won’t get to be a part of these futures, of these lives that changed him so much. 

They arrive at the dorms last, and Minato isn’t ready for when Fuuka explains to him that they’d left it all how it was when he  _ died, _ save for cleaning it every so often so it won’t get too dusty or overtaken by cobwebs. 

He wanders, under the supervision of Elizabeth, around the lower halls. None of them bring up the roof, with good reason. It’s not like Minato would want to go up there anyway; he’s already got every part of it memorised. 

Out of everywhere, despite how horrible he'd felt and how out of it he was for those last few days, the roof is the place he can remember with the most clarity. The way the cherry blossoms blew up onto the roof, the way the sun shone through Aigis's hair and made it glow golden, making him feel like a pathetic midas as he reached up weakly to dry her eyes - every part of it was scrawled onto the back of his mind like a child finding a permanent marker pen and deciding that the walls were the best canvas - that kind of thing was a bitch to remove. 

A part of him had always been in the Seal since he made it, but after dying on the roof, it was like the rest of his consciousness had been transported there, leaving him alone with Nyx and Ryoji by his side when he woke up. 

The first time Ryoji had gone, Minato had been so scared. Nyx had explained that as a part of her, sealed back within him, Ryoji was nowhere near as powerful as Minato, and he’d been holding on by a thread to keep Minato company during those first few days? Weeks?

There was no way of knowing. 

* * *

“Hey,” the others quietened down almost instantly. “Will you guys go up to my room with me?”

“Yeah,” Yukari had answered, quickly. “Yeah, of course.”

The lock on the door was new, but the peeling paint wasn’t, and Minato couldn’t stop himself from tracing the indents in the wood with his barely-there fingertips while Mitsuru unlocked it, places where Aigis had knocked too hard or he’d pushed the door open with his foot or his shoulder with his arms full of new gear. 

Downstairs, the click of a door announces somebody entering, but all of them were too preoccupied with swarming into Minato’s room to pay any notice. 

Looking around, he wasn’t sure what he expected - everything was the exact same. Gifts from Yuko and the kendo team on the desk, along with his laptop (probably with his old Innocent Sin Online save file instact), pictures on the wall of Ryoji and Minato in a photo booth, and snapshots of Koromaru, Ken and Shinjiro, and one of all of S.E.E.S. 

Even his bag sits at the bottom of his bed, packed and ready to be taken to school. He thumbs through it, finding old books purchased from Bookworms, charms from Be Blue V and ticket stubs from the arcade in Paulownia Mall, and everything comes back, until he’s hunched over on the floor, and they’re crouching down too.

“To be honest, this feels like a dream,” he says, “I never thought I’d be back, if only for an afternoon. It does feel like a dream.”

Something rises in his throat, and he can’t help but feel so, so agonisingly sad.

“I’m sorry,” he gasps, not noticing when Elizabeth and Theo leave the room suddenly, “I’m so sorry, I don’t know  _ why-”  _

Junpei hugs him, still big and warm and softer than he appears. “We’re the ones who should be saying that, man.” Yukari and Fuuka and Akihiko join him, Ken lingering back with Mitsuru.

“It’s been nice to see you again,” Yukari murmurs, “Seriously.”

“Yeah,” Minato says, wiping his eyes. When they turn back, there’s a man in the doorway, with a stern look on his face.

“Arisato Minato?” 

He’s tall, with a great white jacket over a black turtleneck, his long brown hair tied back.

“Yes?”

He wears three quarters of a mask, adorned with the shape and colour of a butterfly’s wing on one eye; and Philemon speaks.

“You shouldn’t be here. I’ve spoken to Elizabeth and Theodore. They will transport you back.”

In his voice, they find a strange conviction, and when they blink, he is gone. A blue butterfly lingers at the top of the doorway, before fluttering back into the hall. 

“I have… to go.”

Elizabeth and Theo sidle back into view, before walking straight towards him and hugging him tight. All he’s been getting is hugs, nowadays, and the thought is almost funny.

Out of sight of the others, he whispers into their ears.

“Do it now. Can you do it now? I don’t want to have to say goodbye, I don’t want that finality.”

Theodore closes his eyes. Elizabeth does not move at all, staring straight ahead at the others. The room trickles away.

* * *

Awoken by the familiar feeling of the wires, Minato stares out into the inky black and calls out for Ryoji. Nervous of exhausting him, Minato hasn’t done this in so long, but for once, he has a lot to talk about. "Ryoji! Ryoji, you'll never guess-"

Nyx speaks, her voice rumbling through the space. Reasonably, it’s never a good sign when Nyx has something to say.

"He is no longer here, Arisato."

Still feeling the rush from seeing everyone else again, her words take a moment to sink in, and even then, he can’t wrap his head around it. 

“What?”

"Somebody had to hold up the seal in your absence. He is still here, but it’s exhausted him - he is not as powerful as you.”

Minato doesn’t think - doesn’t feel. He doesn’t  _ understand. _

Everyone’s faces in his mind are still so clear, so happy. Ryoji’s, too, eternalised in their photos crudely pinned to the wall, tacked up there by Ryoji himself, scrambling over Minato’s legs.

“Philemon is angry, Arisato.”

Reflexively, subconsciously, the Seal tightens it’s hold.

**Author's Note:**

> longest persona fic ive ever written!! im very proud of this, even though it is a little all over the place, and im not very good at the comfort part of hurt/comfort yet >//<
> 
> thinkin about making this a multichapter? a series? an au?   
> would love some feedback or maybe a kudos, if you enjoyed!! thanks for reading!!
> 
> lov u all <333


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